Ingmar Bergman Books

Whether one admires Ingmar Bergman's films or not, his importance in the history of cinema cannot be minimized. Bergman, more than any other film-maker, made cinema a respectable study, a field for scholars and intellectuals as well as reviewers. The foremost director of the art film, Bergman has suddenly, since Cries and Whispers and Scenes from a Marriage, become a film-maker whose work appeals to a broader audience as well. Why are Bergman;s films so compelling? Why are they more talked and written about than any other film-maker's? Approaching Bergman's life and work from a host of analytical perspectives rather than from the narrow focus of a single scholar or critic, Ingmar Bergman presents articles by psychiatrists, clergymen, academics, and film-makers. The twenty-five authors are from England, Scandinavia, Canada, and the United States. Contributors such as Robin Wood, Susan Sontag, and Penelope Gilliatt discuss every film, from Bergman's earliest work through Scenes from a Marriage. Bergman himself is represented by his own famous essay "each Film Is My Last," as well as through a major interview with Charles Thomas Samuels. The emphasis is on non-evaluative criticism - criticism that is neither positive nor negative but illuminating. The result is an invaluable aid to understanding and appreciating existing Bergman's films - as well as those to come.

When a film is not a document, it is a dream. This visual autobiography traces the author's lifelong love affair with film. It looks at his life from a rural Swedish childhood through his work in theater to Hollywood's golden age, and a romantic history that includes five wives and more than a few mistresses.

As psychologically intricate and harshly personal as his movies San Francisco Chronicle

Exploring themes of theater, cinema, and acting, this collection presents the scripts of Ingmar Bergman's later works, highlighting his candid and poignant storytelling. It includes three scenarios, culminating in "In the Presence of a Clown," featuring a character based on Bergman's Uncle Carl, who envisions an early talking film. These scripts serve as a significant addition to Bergman's legacy. A preface by Swedish film critic Lasse Bergstrom provides context within Bergman's broader oeuvre, enriching the reader's understanding of his artistic journey.

Based on the courtship and marriage of Ingmar Bergman's own parents, The Best Intentions describes the complex, tumultuous love of a man and woman and the miracle of what love is: overriding and, so often, inexplicable. Henrik is a struggling, somber divinity student; Anna the impetuous but slightly pampered daughter of a bourgeois family. Anna's mother, Karin, fiercely opposes their marriage and uses everything in her power--including deceit--first to prevent it, then to break it up. Yet even her basest actions are not ill-meaning but filled with good intentions. In fact, all the characters act with the best intentions, however wrongheaded their behavior. Incorporating some of the elements of stage and screen, including cinematic dialogues and personal asides, Bergman has written a novel of great beauty and uncompromising honesty, a work filled with joy and sadness, sacrifice and reconciliation--and above all, abiding love. This stunning novel was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and the film adaptation, directed by Bille August, won the Palm D'OR at the Cannes Film Festival.

Ingmar Bergman, creator of such films as Wild Strawberries, Scenes from a Marriage and Fanny and Alexander turns his perceptive filmmaker's eye on himself for a revealing portrait of his life and obsessions. 16 pages of photos.

Because every line is saturated with juice, with the sense of life, you feel, in addition to life as it is, life as it ought to be John McGahern New York Times Book Review